The Charlotte News from Charlotte, North Carolina • 40

wweNe jii'tnr'-iigirnjf'ifn na-Ry-i 2D- THE CHARLOTTE NEWS-Mon April 12 1976 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION Southern League Schedule For 1976 Braves affiliated with Atlanta West Division clubs and affiliations are: the Columbus (Ga) Astros Houston the Montgomery Rebels Detroit the Chattanooga Lookouts Oakland and the Knoxville Sox Chicago White Sox Southern League baseball teams will play a 140-game schedule this year 70 in each half of the season which runs April 13 through Sept 2 A sudden death game at the end of the season will determine the winners of the East and West Divisions if the same team win both the first half and the second half Then the division champions will play a best-of-5 final series for the pennant The first half ends on June 22 Playing in the East Division with Charlotte will be the Orlando Twins the Minnesota club that moved in 1972 from Charlotte to the Florida city the Jacksonville (Fla) Suns affiliated with Kansas City and the Savannah egm Semon Tonight At 7 welcome of the Southern League Billy Hitchcock league president says real excited about returning to Charlotte The team this year Is locally owned and there should be a great deal of pride We feel like Charlotte will draw well over 100000 says David talk about the stigma of no support for sports in Charlotte But because people know how to promote YEAR baseball team drew 174000 fans looking at what they did and one of the things wau that they took a park that looked like a bomb crater and made it attrac tive one of the things done with Griffith There will be other things too that the Crocketts know very well how to do They already have the FANS and baseball fans are both down-to-earth says David just enjoy talking to do more than just talk however never milked a cow and always wanted to chase a greased he said have little fun things like that at the park from time to time But we fill every date with a promotion because the fans will come to watch baseball The game is for the fans not for the players the fans who pay the David buy talk about Charlotte not being a sports town even if baseball folded in 1973 even if the Cougars of the American Basketball Association left the state even if the Hornets of the World Football League cried for support from people they thought ought to be civic minded and then folded with the league even if the Checkers hockey team recently folded out to prove a castor i above and pocis FOB FAMILY FUU HEALTH AKD SAFSTV! The Ztcno-ttate '9 1 1 It 3 put up with sluggish performance from your car! Get an expert engine tune-up from our car-care specialists Includes: new spark plugs breaker points condenser and rotor mm WWfMM ''4 -v- 6 i '''4 i tvfr BEAUTY QUAUTY hi DURABILITY SAFETY I6'x31 SW1KA ARIA 15'x24 ABOVE GROUND This Week Only! Professional baseball returns to Charlotte tonight At 7:30 the first pitch of the latest team the Charlotte Orioles will head for the plate to a batter from the Knoxville team The site will be Griffith Park a holdover from the days when Charlotte baseball was owned by the Minnesota Twins But the old field has been to the beautician and will present a sparkle unseen since the days when the Charlotte Hornets were contending for the Southern League championship five years ago The park however is the only holdover The major league affiliation the Baltimore Orioles is new and the owner is new Jim Crockett Promotions been four years since professional baseball operated in Charlotte During that last year 1972 fans were glutted with games in an unusual situation in which Minnesota operated two teams in the city the Class AA Hornets and the Class A Twins Hardly a night went by without one of the teams playing at home THIS YEAR the Orioles will play a 70-game home schedule The rest of the 140 regular season games will be played on other Southern League fields in Knoxville Chattanooga Montgomery Columbus (Ga) Orlando Jacksonville (Fla) and Savannah entry in the Southern League last year operated as the Asheville Tourists a team which finished tied for last place in the four-team Western Division But the record bad at 63-75 and first-place Montgomery which beat Orlando three games to none in the championship play- off at the end of the season finished only 12 games in front of the Tourists Prospects for the Orioles are bright if field manager Jim Schaffer can get Baltimore to supply pitching help to go along' with the talented set of youngsters who formed the nucleus of the Asheville team HELPING SCHAFFER get good players will be the Crockett family who in their first baseball venture impressed minor league chieftains David Crockett vice president of the promotion company will be general manager of the Orioles Company president Jim oldest son of the late Jim Crockett Sr will keep a close watch too start screaming at Baltimore to give me some more players if we get in a slump" Jim said last December after he closed the deal that brought the Tourists to Charlotte That was before David was named by the family to be general manager David will do the first screaming now With the Crocketts doing the promoting if a slump comes it will be more likely on the field than at the gate The family has entertained millions of Carolinians with wrestling bouts and David has been in the middle of staging both the live and the televised bouts enca 3a Dsaumui shapes carer mo: ova PLANT coupuniY KISTAUEO (MOST 6 CYL US CARS) (8cyl Cars $4 Extra) Additional $2 for air conditioned cars extra for each resistor-type spark plug FULL FIHAUCIHC AVAILABLE SHOP AT HOME SERVICE! 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Quality says it all tmraiBuroBS or nEsmBimimm RM SERVICE DEPARTMENT roa not aaoaaat mam I CUSTOMBUIL POOLS Inc 3743 WINDING CREEK LANE CHARLOTTE NC 28211 I NAME I RAIN CHfcCK: bhouid our supply ot some sizes or lines run short during this event we will honor any orders placed now for future delivery at the advertised price Charge it fT7rlgrn5T) io al General (as nopnia Miir Charge BtnkAmniird Pnrs Club American Expreu 432 TRYON ST PHONE: 377-1516 Priced as shown at General Tire Stores Competitively priced at independent dealers displaying the General sign 4701 INCEP BLVD PHONE: 536-5220 Ml It I (HIT I ti 1:10 PM S1TURD1T ADDRESS CITY EiEaeara JH STATE 7:30 I TO I MOO TOM TOURS 7:30 1N T0IPN F0IDIY I IN I 1 FM SITUIOIY Sooner or later own Generals nrfiXBiii.